The Rising Apocalypse and Other Well Kept Secrets
by BuffyWannaBe
Summary: WIP. The merging and continuation of BtVS and AtS. Starts just after ‘The Girl in Question’ and continues from there. Much Spuffiness eventually. Please review.
1. When the Other Shoe Drops

Chapter 1: When the Other Shoe Drops 

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I only borrow the characters and situations of the Whedonverse for my selfish pleasure (and hopefully yours).

Summary: The merging and continuation of BtVS and AtS. Starts just after 'The Girl in Question' and continues from there.

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It's unfortunate that Slayer strength doesn't extend to hangovers and long nights, she thought grumpily as her head steadily pounded its protest at the early morning hours she so wasn't used to keeping.

Buffy slowly crawled up the stairs to her apartment just before dawn, tired and weary from her night out with Giovanni. Her clothes were rumpled, her hair was a mess, her makeup was smeared, and she had the taste of something resembling monkey fur in her mouth. Or at least what she thought monkey fur might taste like. Whatever, it was unpleasant, and all she wanted to do was take a long, hot shower, brush her teeth (so long, Miss Monkey Mouth!), before crawling in bed and pulling the covers over her head to block out the world.

It had been a fun night, like all the others, filled with dancing, drinking, and flirting, which had become the habit since they'd moved to Rome for a break from training new Slayers. They had Slayers coming out of their ears, so to speak, and while she had thrown herself into the mountainous process of rounding them up and beginning training, after a few months of horrible Cleveland weather she had decided to take some time off and go to Europe.

Giles was in London rebuilding the Council, so that had been an option, but she really didn't want to trade Cleveland snow for London rain. Instead she and Dawn had opted for something a little more sunny and exotic. Andrew, who was now training to be a Watcher in his 'Quest for Redemption,' as he repeatedly and quite annoyingly called it, had suggested Rome, which was where he would be stationed. Dawn had been ecstatic at the prospect, and Buffy had just wanted a new, less Hellmouthy, place to escape. And escape she had done, mainly by enrolling Dawn in school, dealing with her occasional and unexpected house guest, Andrew, whenever he had another disastrous kitchen mishap, and filling her days with shopping, day-time television (in Italian, no less), and pretending to sleep, all while dealing with the Slayer and Watcher situations from afar.

Then she'd met Giovanni, The Immortal, and his attentions had initially been a balm to her loneliness and boredom. The fact that he was, well, immortal was fitting as far as she was concerned. Never could, and probably never would, be attracted to guys of the human variety, as far as she was concerned. Better to just go with it. Giles had had quite a few reservations about him, to put it lightly, and he was probably right. But, Giovanni was attractive, fun, and interesting and she'd decided that maybe, just maybe he might the next step in helping herself move on.

And so she had spent the last few months in his easy company, trying to forget the past, trying to push to the back of her mind all those haunting memories of linked hands ablaze and a beautiful, British voice telling her, "No, you don't. But thanks for saying it," that awoke her every night, and somehow she managed to maintain the façade that life was honky-dory.

But lately, Buffy had been feeling strange somehow, like she'd been missing something, like the façade she presented was out of place and that something important was happening around her but she wasn't a part of it. It was like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop because this life she'd created for herself was just a ruse. She was never this happy. It was bound to come to an end, sooner or later. She hadn't liked the feeling, but had thrown herself into her usual routine anyway, knowing that if something were going on, apocalypse-wise, Andrew or Giles would contact her without hesitation.

Then, last night in the loud club, she'd suddenly felt _off_. Had sensed that something or someone was there, watching her dance, and she had vaguely been reminded of another night, many years ago, when she'd felt the same presence watching her at the Bronze. The same night she'd met Spike in a darkened alley. And her heart hurt thinking about him as she wondered if her mind was conjuring his supposed presence to spite her attempts at making a new life.

It was impossible. Spike was dead, and she had to stop regretting the loss he'd left behind. So, she had drowned her senses in glass after glass of expensive champagne to dull the pain and danced carelessly in order to maintain her precarious façade. After all, how else was she supposed to be moving on if she continued to think about him, feel him?

They'd left soon after, going to his grand home, where she'd again made excuses to Giovanni as to why she wasn't ready to 'take that next step' with him. She'd stayed at his house, though, as she often did, curled up next to him in his big bed, unable to sleep for fear of her dreams, but not the least bit interested in anything more physical with the man lying next to her. After all, they'd only been dating for three months, and she wasn't ready to go there, to get her heart broken...again.

There was a voice in the back of her head that told her The Immortal would never have the power to break her heart because it still belonged to someone else.

She deliberately ignored it.

Determined not to slip into depression at her rampaging thoughts, Buffy sighed and continued her trek up the last flight of stairs to her front door. Digging her keys out of her tiny purse, she unlocked the door and stepped in.

And was assailed by the strangest, strongest sensation. A sensation that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand straight up and a chill break out over her skin. It was a feeling she had once been familiar with but now missed, a feeling she hadn't felt in what seemed like a lifetime, with the exception of last night, and she suddenly felt dizzy at its implications. Her Slayer senses went haywire, as they screamed one single word in her head.

_Spike._

Spike had been here! Recently. She could feel his presence left behind in her apartment and her whole world tilted off balance as the confusion hit her like a punch to the solar plexus. She doubled over, her mind racing at the implications that he might actually be alive...or undead, that is. It wasn't possible...was it? She'd seen him start to burn as she'd left him, her Champion, behind in the cavern. She'd seen the Hellmouth implode, and there was no way he could have survived. Was there?

Mustering up an inner strength that had refused to let her fall apart in the past, Buffy took several deep breaths and tried to clear her head. There was something that didn't fit here, and someone better damn well give her some answers. Soon.

"Andrew! Get your skinny, pasty ass down here, pronto," she screamed at the top of her lungs, her anger and confusion hitting an all time high as they roiled around in her head and heart. If anyone knew what was going on, it would have to be the Captain of the Geek Brigade that lived in her apartment.

She heard the stomping of feet on the stairs as he obviously recognized her fury and knew he'd better move double time at her command. Seconds later he scampered into the living room and stopped a few feet away, scared for his life and out of breath. She'd woken him up, obviously, and he was standing before her in a blue t-shirt that Dawn had gotten him last Christmas that said 'Talk Nerdy to Me,' in big digital letters, gray boxers, and mussed hair. It would have made her laugh, seeing his stupid t-shirt and the perplexed and terrified expression, if she hadn't been so confused, scared and furious all at once.

She covered her emotions by crossing her arms and looking at him with raised brows and an expectant look on her face.

"Is there something you wanna tell me?" she suggested smoothly.

"Um...um no. Well, I mean...I k-kinda lit the oven on fire last night making baked ziti, but I had it under control. There was minimal damage sustained," he stammered uneasily in his whiny voice.

"That's NOT what I was talking about...and I think you know that," she said pointedly. Oh boy, he was really nervous now, as he shuffled his feet under her narrow-eyed glare.

"Um, w-what are you talking about?" he stammered, playing dumb, eyes shifting to everything in the room except her.

"Had any visitors lately, Andrew? Anyone stop by that I should know about?" she suggested with a deceptive calm and somewhat patronizing attitude despite her raging emotions.

He gulped once, then twice, as he gaped at her like a rabbit staring into the mouth of a large, hungry predator. Oh, he had no idea.

He started to back up in fear, his hands out in a placating gesture, as she advanced on him with menacing steps, clenched fists, and an icy glare.

"Ok, promise you won't kill me—"

"I'm not promising anything, Andrew. Now, spill it."

"Angel and Spike came because they thought you were in trouble—"

She stopped her stalking of him as the truth hit her like a slap to the face. Her senses had been correct...Spike was alive and he'd been here. Looking for her. And last night, at the club...Oh God. Keep it together, Buffy, she diligently told herself before looking at Andrew once again.

"So, you knew Spike was alive and you didn't think it was necessary to tell me? When did you find out?" she said in a low, even voice which belied the shaking of her hands.

"Um...when I went to L.A. for Dana. But...S-Spike asked me not to tell you, and Giles thought it would be best since you seemed to be happy?" he said in a nervous rush.

"You went to L.A. months ago!" She yelled as her anger again returning as it began to boil the blood in her veins and she continued her predatory progression towards the Junior Watcher. Andrew, led by his instinct for self-preservation, took off around the back of the couch, putting the heavy piece of furniture between himself and a thunderously pissed off Slayer.

"You can't keep you mouth shut about anything, Andrew, so why this? And, Giles thought?! Since when does he get to make decisions about my life? And what the HELL is Spike doing with Angel, the head of Evil Incorporated? They hate each other," her angry rant stopped as did her pursuit once again, as her brow crinkled in consternation, "Wait, is he evil? No, no...not if they thought I was in trouble," she concluded quietly.

Andrew, not sure which question to tackle first, decided to answer the last one before Buffy decided that he was slay-worthy. By the look in her eyes, that might be soon.

"No, neither of them are evil, at least, I don't think so. We've had contacts watching them in L.A. From what we know, Spike's essence was contained in that amulet that he used to close the Hellmouth, so when it was suspiciously delivered to their office and out popped Spike, he was incorporeal and stuck there. But, somehow they managed to 'bring him back' cause when I saw him, he was all with the being able to touch again. Well, except that Dana had cut off his hands. As for Angel, we still don't know why he and his crew took over Wolfram and Hart, but he seemed to still be concerned about you, which leads us to assume he's still Soul-happy. Or not so happy, I guess. And by the way, does he usually brood so much, or was that just because I told him you were seeing The Immortal?"

Buffy's mind raced with Andrew's story, and her heart bled for Spike. He would have hated not being able to touch anything, not being able to affect anything. And he lost his hands?! Those strong, cool and knowing hands that had given her pain, strength and love in equal amounts. Oh God, please let him be ok now, she begged silently. It would have been like Hell for him. And, stuck with Angel? Even worse...for the both of them! And then her mind got stuck on something else he'd said.

"Wait! You told them I was seeing someone? Why?" she asked indignantly, hands snapping to her hips.

Andrew shuffled his feet again, knowing the infamous Wrath of Buffy could strike at any moment.

"Well, I just let them know that it was time for them to move on, cause that's what you've been doing with The Immortal."

Buffy threw her hands up and growled in exasperation. Well...I guess that my façade _had_ been fooling everyone after all, she thought, both angry and relieved that her friends hadn't noticed the boredom, loneliness, and grief that had taken her over months ago. Hell, she'd even been fooling herself. But now being faced with this?

_Spike's alive_, her heart screamed. Its steady, albeit rapid, beating really showed her the truth of the emptiness that was her current life. Perspective, thy name is Buffy.

Well, at least now she had an objective.

"Andrew...you're still on my shit-list, so don't think you're getting off easy. I need to make a phone call, so we'll continue this later, k?" she said as she stomped out of the room.

As she made her way to the phone on her dresser, she looked longingly at her comfy bed, wishing for a respite from her exhaustion, but knowing she was never gonna get to sleep knowing he was alive. She knew suddenly that she wouldn't rest until she, at the very least, heard his rich voice.

_Spike. Is. Alive._

She was still trying to get her mind around it all. God, after all these months of dreaming about him, thinking about him, missing him till she'd thought she'd go crazy, and he had been alive the whole time. Alive, but hadn't called her.

Andrew wasn't the only one on her shit-list.

She looked up the number in her phone book of contacts, and after several deep breaths, dialed it shakily. She heard the ringing on the other end, and Buffy clutched the receiver with white knuckles as she waited for someone to answer...


	2. Bad News

Chapter 2: Bad News 

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I only borrow the characters and situations of the Whedonverse for my selfish pleasure (and hopefully yours).

Summary: The merging and continuation of BtVS and AtS. Starts just after 'The Girl in Question,' 5.20, and continues from there.

Recap: Buffy found out that Andrew's been keeping secrets, namely those regarding a certain bleached vamp, and decided to postpone his pummeling by making an important phone call instead. Takes place during 'Power Play,' 5.21.

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Harmony Kendall was having a good day. Despite, or maybe because of the chaos erupting in every corner of the office that she found incredibly amusing, what with the upcoming apocalypse and all. Everyone could feel that it was brewing, could feel that something evil was in the air, especially now that they thought their boss was without a soul, which just left the rest of Angel's crew pretty pissed off. Just woke up and poof, he was acting all evil again! Well, it might have had something to do with the night he'd spent with his girlfriend, Little Miss Drools-A-Lot. Although, how anyone could find perfect happiness with someone that had a hairier back than he did, was beyond Harmony's guess.

But, other than that, she was definitely having a good day.

The phone on her desk chirped at her to answer it, but she wanted nothing more than to ignore it and watch the impending spectacle that would no doubt unfold since Angel's crew was currently dissenting from under the thumb of the boss. This should prove to be a fun show, however it was no reason to ignore her duties just because she was bored.

With a sigh of resignation, she picked up the ringing receiver, still keeping an eye on Wesley as he and Lorne tried to quietly discuss Angel's uncharacteristic behavior. Hello? Didn't they know she was a vampire, with the supersensitive hearing and all?

"Good afternoon, you've reached the offices of Wolfram and Hart. How may I help you?"

"Hi, is—Wait..._Harmony_? Is that you?" said the familiar voice on the other end of the line.

And Harmony's good day came to an abrupt halt. Of all people to be calling, it had to be the Slayer. Damn!

She laughed nervously, before saying, "Hey...Buffy, how's it going? Nice to hear from you after so many years. So, I hear you're dating The Immortal? How's that going for you?"

"Not really calling to discuss my love life, Harmony," came the Slayer's dry reply. "So, you're working for Angel now? That's...interesting. Is he around, by the way...o-or Spike?"

"Hmmm, that's funny cuz the topic of your love life has been big news here in the office lately. But anyway, Angel's in an important meeting and doesn't want to be disturbed. Something to do with the impending apocalypse, no doubt. And Spike, well, I never see him around anymore since we had our little, you know, _thing_ after he recorporealized. There was weirdness there," she finished with a shrug.

Buffy was silent for several seconds before she asked smoothly, "What apocalypse?"

"Oh, you know, the Seniors Partners have it in for Angel and are probably gonna unleash Hell on earth, blah blah blity blah, but we're not sure whose side he's on or even if he's still with the soul-having since his werewolf girlfriend...you know, Nina, stayed with him last night. The rest of the crew are trying to figure it out. Anyway, same ol' crap, just another day," she finished simply.

And then a thought came to her.

"Oh, um, I'm probably not supposed to tell anyone, especially you, about what's going on around here. Um, I was just kidding anyway. You know me, always with the comic relief. You can just forget I said anything, k, Buffy?" she said nervously. The last thing that anyone would want is the Slayer sniffing around trying to stick her pointy nose into the business of Wolfram and Hart, Harmony thought, hoping she'd backtracked well enough.

"Sure thing, Harmony. You're...uh secret's safe with me. Well, it was really nice talking to you again. Gotta go," she spoke in a rush, her voice way too cheery. And then the line went dead as Buffy ended their conversation.

"Geez, rude much?" Harmony muttered to herself. Just because she was the Slayer didn't give her the right to disregard proper phone etiquette. Oh well, she thought as she picked up some papers, intending to put prettily colored labels on them before she filed them.

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Buffy sat on her bed trying to process what she'd learned in her very short conversation with Harmony. Geez! If Angel was concerned about the leaking of company information, Harmony was obviously a bad choice as secretary.

So, he was finally seeing someone, huh? And Spike had had a _thing_ with Harmony? And the great news just keeps on a coming, she thought sarcastically. But she'd have to deal with all that drama later.

Well, now she knew where that feeling she'd been having lately was coming from. Another apocalypse, no less. She sighed as she got wearily to her feet, giving her big bed another regretful glance as she realized sleep would be a very long way off. Saving the world was probably more of a priority.

She made her way into the kitchen in search of Andrew by following his muttered curses as he no doubt flambéed another of her pans. She stood in the doorway, watching as he tried to light the gas burner with a lighter and, in order to divert his imminent massacre of her kitchen, she cleared her throat. When he saw her standing in the door way, he stopped his attempt at cooking to look sheepish and no doubt wondered if she was gonna start up where they'd left off in the living room. But he obviously saw the disheartening look on her face as he asked, "What's up, Buff?"

"We have big trouble, Andrew. Like end-of-the-world type big. I need to know everything about Wolfram and Hart, about Angel, about their whole operation. There's something going on, something we don't know about, and I'm gonna find out what it is and when it's going down."

He nodded hurriedly, saying, "I'll go call my contacts in L.A. and get my files."

"That's a start, but not good enough," she interrupted. "By all means, call your contacts and ask them to keep an extra close eye on the goings on and report back to us often, but we need to do something more drastic, and fast. My Slayer sense is telling me that this is gonna be happening within the next few days. I think it's time to call in the big guns."

"What do you mean? We don't have any guns. Or do we, cause Mr. Giles never told me about any guns."

Buffy rolled her eyes. Ignoring his questions, Buffy continued. "We need to call an emergency Scooby meeting. Call Giles, tell him we're coming to London...we're ALL coming to London."


	3. Like Old Times

Chapter 3: Like Old Times 

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I only borrow the characters and situations of the Whedonverse for my selfish pleasure (and hopefully yours).

Summary: The merging and continuation of BtVS and AtS. Starts just after 'The Girl in Question,' 5.20, and continues from there.

Recap: Buffy made a phone call to a certain evil law firm and reached Harmony. They had a deep and meaningful conversation where secrets were revealed, mainly those regarding the next apocalypse. Now Buffy has a new objective, has called an emergency Scooby meeting, and is planning to visit her favorite Watcher.

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Eighteen hours later and Buffy felt like she was ready to drop dead from exhaustion. And, apparently so did everyone else.

Dawn, who'd also been out on the town last night, was diligently trying to keep her drooping eyelids open as she stared at her computer screen. Giles and Andrew were in the corner with piles upon piles of books surrounding them as they searched for prophecies and any references to the Wolf, the Ram, and the Hart. Kennedy had long ago given up trying to stay awake, as her head now rested on the large table that dominated the study. An occasional snoring could be heard coming from her direction as well. Faith, who had declared that research wasn't really her thing, had gone down to Giles's training room for a long workout session to work off some energy. And Buffy, who also was no good at the research thing, didn't have the energy to work anything off at this point, so she was merely hear for moral support as she waited for any info.

The only person who hadn't fizzled out was Willow, whose fingers were still flying over her keyboard as they had been for the past several hours.

The only person missing was Xander, who hadn't shown just yet.

Thank the Powers that Giles still had his Council connections and sole access to the overflowing accounts left behind by the former Watchers. It was certainly a resource that they all relied on. How else were the Scoobies able to have the cozy accommodations they all took advantage of, as they'd scattered throughout the world in their quest to find and train new Slayers?

For Buffy, obviously it was the apartment in Rome and Dawn's private school tuition. For Faith and Principal Wood, er, Robin, it was the newly renovated, 3-storie warehouse in Cleveland where they housed and trained the largest number of Slayers. For Willow and Kennedy, it was a series of posh hotel rooms they stayed in as they traveled South America in their search for newbies. Xander, well, he didn't have a permanent residence in Africa. For all they knew, he was living in a hut in the middle of the Sudan. But, hey, at least he got the cool new jeep and all the high-tech camping gear one male could want.

But most importantly, those funds could get them to wherever they needed to go, whenever they needed it. Like, oh say, when the world's about to end?

No layovers, no customs, and no red tape. Just make a phone call to Daddy Giles and it was as good as done. It was perfect for emergency Scooby meetings such as this.

She, Andrew, and Dawn had arrived in London only two hours after her call to the States. They'd pulled up outside of a stately residence in the oldest part of the city, the place that Giles resided and trained his batch of twenty-two Slayers. The Euro-Brigade, he called them.

After rounds of hugs and fervent greetings as Giles met them at the door, they'd headed into the study and had been researching ever since in an attempt to learn all they could about Wolfram and Hart. Andrew had been in contact with his people in L.A. several times and had learned nothing good. Angel, it seemed, was doing all he could to battle for the forces of evil, which left the rest of them with the major wiggins.

After all, he still had his soul.

When Willow and Kennedy had arrived at Giles's house about seven hours ago, and after more hugs and greetings, Buffy had asked that she use her Wiccan powers to check if she could find out about Angel's soul status.

After some chanting, stinky herbs, and even a pretty light show, she imparted the good news that his soul was still anchored to him.

Which only left more questions for the incredibly confused group.

How was it possible that he was doing all these horrific things and still have a conscience? And what were the Senior Partners planning? When was this apocalypse going down, anyway? And, more importantly to Buffy, what did Spike's return to the land of the not-so-living have to do with any of it?

These seemed to be the questions of the night and they were no closer to finding their answers.

Faith, who'd left Robin in Cleveland to handle the girls and had shown up an hour after Willow and Kennedy, chose that minute to bound into the room, startling the quiet contemplative atmosphere with her exerted panting, as she was apparently done with the workout she'd indulged in.

"Hey B, any late-breaking news?"

Buffy gave a weary sigh. "Not yet, but Willow and Dawn are trying to hack into their system to learn more. They've been at it for hours now, so something's bound to come up soon."

"Hey, guys, I think I got something." This came from an excited Willow, making everyone jump at the unexpected loudness of her voice.

"See, I told ya," said Buffy as she smiled smugly at Faith and received an eye-roll in return.

The room's occupants began to move for the first time in forever, it seemed. Giles and Andrew unfolded themselves from the chairs in the corner where they'd been absorbed in the dusty books. Dawn stood up from her own place before her laptop to look over Willow's shoulder. Kennedy slowly lifted her head from the table and stared around uncomprehendingly. Buffy stood and stretched from where she'd been slumped half asleep in the too small chair by the doorway. She and Faith came to stand behind Willow's other shoulder to stare at the computer screen, neither making sense of its secrets.

"What have you found?" asked Giles hopefully.

"Well, I managed to access their network and get into Angel's personal computer files using the name Connor for his password."

Buffy gave a snort of amusement before quipping, "Well, that's wicked obvious!"

At everyone's pointed looks she muttered, "Sorry, sorry...jeez, no need to get all aggro on me..."

"Well, all the files were heavily encrypted, so they were pretty much useless to us. But once I figured the pattern out, it was cake. Anyway, there's all this mention to a society called The Circle of the Black Thorn, whose mission statement seems to include, among other things, world domination."

Giles immediately went for his books as Willow kept talking. "And, look here at all the data he's collected on its members: evil senators, demon sorcerers, and so on. It seems he's been watching these players pretty carefully and taking really good notes. It also has an outlined plan of how to take them down, how to penetrate The Circle. He's been trying to gain their trust by making deals with them so that he can find out more about them."

"This is good Will, really good. At least we know what Angel's up to and he's not actually planning to help bring on Armageddon. Any idea when this Circle take-down thingy is gonna happen?"

"Um, no. But, from what we've learned from Andrew's contacts, the plan he's implemented is already in affect, so it has to be very soon, like within the next couple of days soon."

"Well, that doesn't leave us a whole lotta time to jump in and save the day." This came from Faith.

"Your right, and we still don't even know if Angel and Co. want our help. After all, he never called us. But we can't just sit here while this whole thing goes down."

Giles clicked his tongue in exasperation, which meant he had something to say. "Buffy, whether or not Angel wants our help is irrelevant. We're talking about the end of the world here and we cannot just stand by and let it happen because he has a chip on his shoulder. We have to act quickly in order to stop whatever—,"

"I know Giles, and we will. But first we need to know what we're facing here. I don't want us to go charging in all half-cocked, or fully-cocked, or any kind of..." she cleared her throat in embarrassment at her choice of words when everyone's eyes were about to bug out of their heads. "Anyway, hybrid demon robot, First Evil, Hell God stuck in a human body, take your pick, but I'd like to know 'cause any of those we can deal with."

"Or maybe, it's like in that episode of _Star Trek_—," started Andrew hopefully.

"I highly doubt it..." interrupted Giles quickly, knowing that if they didn't put a stop to it now, they'd never hear the end of the _Star Trek_ references.

"It could happen," Andrew quietly muttered in defense of himself. His only response was the collective eye-roll from everyone in the room. He huffed off to his chair in the corner and threw himself into it, arms crossed in petulance.

"Oh yah, that's gonna help," snorted Kennedy in disgust of Andrew's actions. "Throwing temper tantrums is the surefire way to beat whatever's coming."

"Hey—,"

"Guys!" shouted Buffy, in an attempt to stop the quarreling that was bound to erupt. "Can we not do this right now? We have more important things to figure out—."

"Wow! It sounds like old times in here," said a familiar but long unheard voice coming from the doorway.

"Xander!" Dawn and Willow exclaimed in unison, as everyone rushed him for the requisite hugging that would occur. Everyone had their turns. Even Giles, the usually unemotional Brit, had a giddy grin on his face as he gave Xander a huge bear hug.

"I'm so glad you're here," he said, no doubt happy to have another male around that wasn't in the habit of referencing Sci-Fi characters. "I wasn't sure if you'd gotten my call."

"Of course I did. You flash the Bat Signal, and I come a runnin'. I even tried to find a donut shop after I left the airport, but it didn't work out so well. England sucks, by the way."

Giles was pushed out of the way by an eager Andrew as he too threw his arms around Xander in excitement and said, "I missed you so much!"

Buffy knew it was probably true because Xander was the only one who ever got his Sci-Fi references. And the way Andrew and Giles got on, well, she was surprised she hadn't had to referee the too common bickering. Plus, he was just a big nerd, but somehow Xander, despite his lack of sensitivity at times, understood him. Andrew appreciated that.

"Uh...thanks Andrew. I, uh, missed you too?" he offered, but still visibly uncomfortable with the perceived threat to his masculinity by Andrew's emotional display.

As he disentangled himself from Andrew's grasp, Xander smiled at Buffy since she had been waiting for everyone else before she got her own hug in. As she squeezed him hard, forgetting her own strength yet again, she could feel her eyes start to water. He looked good, had lost weight while trekking through Africa, as well as sporting a dark tan now. And he still had his eye patch, which just made her feel guilty and sad that she hadn't been able to stop Caleb in time before he'd lost his eye.

But he was here, like everyone else, and he looked happy about it.

"Hey Buff, still need to breathe," he wheezed out.

"Oh! Sorry, it's just so good to see you," she said as she slyly rubbed at her moist eye before he or anyone else could notice her shiny tears forming.

"So, what's the what, then? Fill me in. I missed most of the party, but I wanna hear the goods!" Willow and Andrew started explaining what they'd found out so far, and Buffy went to check with how Dawn was doing as she was tiredly watching everyone from hooded eyes.

"Hey Dawnie, how're you doing?" she asked as she smoothed her sister's long hair away from her face.

"Tired, and kinda stiff from sitting for so long. Buffy, what are we gonna do about this? I mean, do you have any plans?"

"I don't know, Dawnie, but we'll come up with something. We always do. Why don't you go lay down and get some rest. Something tells me we're gonna need it. I'll come get you when we think of something, k?" Dawn nodded, gave her sister a hug and slowly made her way out of the room, saying goodnight to everyone and sparing Xander another hug before leaving.

Faith sauntered over to her and Buffy watched her friends interacting with one another, laughing with one another despite the impending doom that clouded this reunion. Xander had been right; this was like old times. The late night Scooby meetings trying to figure out the next Big Bad, the jokes, the quips, and the affection between them all. It was something she'd dearly missed and hadn't realized till just now.

It made her think about the people that should be in this room with them, but weren't. Anya, Tara, her mom, the potentials that had died, and Spike. All were warriors in some way or another, and all had fallen in this war they continued to fight. They all deserved to be here, maybe even more than she did.

But, _Spike was back_, her heart screamed at her at full blast. Buffy wondered if it would stop doing that when she finally found him, when she could finally _make_ him believe how she felt, how much he was a part of her. How much she needed him.

"So, any ideas?" Faith asked, interrupting her reverie.

"Nope...you?"

"Nada here, girlfriend. But I'm not used to making the decisions like you are, and thank God for that. I don't think I could take the pressure." Buffy smiled, sadly, wondering how she'd been able to take the pressure for so long. Her and her small group of friends, saving the world. At least now there were plenty of Slayers to share the burden of keeping the world safe from evil.

They were startled by Andrew's shout of utter glee as he obviously found something worthwhile after he'd commandeered Dawn's laptop. Everyone crowded around, curious to see what he'd discovered.

"I found a memo hidden in a file on another computer from Wolfram and Hart's network addressed to someone named Hamilton. It seems that it's directly from the Senior Partners themselves. It is a warning of what will happen if he does not manage to stop Angel's secret plan to infiltrate The Circle of the Black Thorn. Blah, blah, travesty against the side of evil, yada yada, no one shall survive our wrath...Same old crap every evil mastermind goes on about, but it does go on to say something about massive demon hoards being sent to destroy Angel and L.A. if Hamilton fails his mission."

Everyone was really quiet as they all took it in.

"How massive are we talkin' little man?" asked Xander. "I mean, we've all seen the Uber-vamp army, and we killed them, right?"

"Ya know, Robin and I have noticed a mass exodus of demon-types from Cleveland and the surrounding areas. It's been hard to train the new Slayers when there are no baddies to battle. Maybe they're all on their way to L.A.," suggested Faith.

"And if so, we can most likely assume that this is happening all over the globe, these mass migrations. The Senior Partners have an extensive reach, and could no doubt encourage hundreds, maybe thousands of demons to visit L.A. to wreak havoc," said Giles glumly.

"So apparently the Senior partners are hip to Angel's plan," said Kennedy. Thanks for stating the obvious, thought Buffy.

Buffy could feel the fear and adrenaline shoot through her body at the plan that was forming in her head. "We need to get there, we need to warn them. Like yesterday! Giles, they can't fight this alone. This is too much for them. We need to send our armies to help!"

"I'll start calling the airlines and procuring plane tickets." Giles rushed off to do just that.

Buffy turned to look at all her friends once again, who all stared expectantly at her. Well, she thought resignedly, I guess it's time for Drill Sergeant Buffy to rear her ugly head. "Guys, I need you to call and round up all the Slayers you've been training. Every last one of them. Tell them the sitch and that we'll be in contact with their flight info by tomorrow. We're ALL going on a field trip, and believe me when I say they'll have plenty of practice battling baddies by the time we get out of this."

Everyone nodded before quickly parting ways to find a spare phone line in the massive house. Buffy grabbed Willow's arm before she could leave.

"Hey Will, I'm gonna need your help with something. First, can you contact the Coven, maybe get some extra magicky fire power? Something maybe we haven't used before, or at least something stronger?" At her nod, Buffy continued. "I also need you to write an email...if you still have a certain email address that is. I know it's been awhile, but it can really help us out here."

"Sure Buff. But whose email do you want?"

Buffy sighed, not really wanting to resort to these measures, but knowing that if she was gonna get them all through this, it was best to use every contact that they could.

"None other than that of Mr. and Mrs. Riley Finn..."


	4. Surprise, Surprise

A/N: Thank you to all who have reviewed. You folks are wonderful, and I'm so glad to be writing something you enjoy. Keep reviewing and I'll keep writing!

Chapter 4: Surprise, Surprise

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I only borrow the characters and situations of the Whedonverse for my selfish pleasure (and hopefully yours).

Summary: The merging and continuation of BtVS and AtS. Starts just after 'The Girl in Question,' 5.20, and continues from there. This chapter takes place soon after the fade to black post-'Not Fade Away,' 5.22.

Recap: The Scoobies had a nice reunion in London, where they found out about Angel's plans regarding The Circle of the Black Thorn. Then they found out about the Senior Partners' plans. Buffy decided to take the new Slayers on a field trip, but not before she had Willow contact some old friends.

--------------------

_Twenty-Six hours later_

_Los Angeles_

Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Giles and Andrew all stood on the rooftop of an office building, clothes soaked through, not far from the still-smoldering rubble of the hotel that used to be Angel's command central, while they watched with slack jaws the chaos erupting before them.

"Holy sh—,"

"Dawnie…language," Buffy chastised, scowling at her sister as Dawn gawked at the scene unfolding before them. Her mouth hung open even more (if that was humanly possible) and her eyes were wide as they focused on the enormous fire-breathing dragon winging its way over the heads of the milling demons that had overtaken the streets below.

Right now, Buffy was thinking the same words that had almost slipped from her sister's lips.

"Wow," Andrew breathed in fascination, "it's like a scene out of The Lord of the Rings, with the orcs and the dragon—"

"Yes, Andrew. We've all seen the movie," remarked Giles dryly. Buffy, reigning in her paralyzing fear, was trying to refocus on the disaster at hand instead of listening to Andrew's hero-worship of Peter Jackson. Now wasn't really the time for pop-culture references.

Willow, having gotten over her own awe, began pulling charms, herbs and incantations out of her backpack and laying them out in preparation for the upcoming battle.

The rest of the Scoobies had gone to instruct the incoming groups made up of almost one hundred and thirty Slayers with their plan of attack. Not that it was much of a plan, per se, but it consisted of three very key elements: Charge, Fight, and Don't Die. The last one was especially important. She just hoped that the girls were ready for this.

"Dawn, I want you to stay up here with Willow. You'll be safe up here. We're far enough away so that you won't be in too much danger, but can still see the show. Got it?" she prompted at her sister's scowl.

"Buffy, I'm seventeen and have _some_ training, you know. I can help out down there," she argued with her arms crossed.

"I know, but I don't want you taking chances, and this is too much for you. Plus, you have to keep Willow safe in case any demons try to get up here and take her out. Please, just promise me you'll be safe."

Dawn hesitated before agreeing. "Promise…I'll play watchdog to Will, just as long as you let me fight next time."

"Well, that depends on what we're fighting, but…we'll see," Buffy said grudgingly, and Dawn was satisfied with that.

They were interrupted by a sound from behind them and they all turned to see Faith, Robin and Xander climb their way up the fire escape to the roof. The three came over to where the rest of the group stood and surveyed what lay before them in silence.

"Everybody in place?" Buffy asked of Faith and at her nod she continued. "How much time do we have?"

"Fifteen minutes till midnight," answered Xander as he armed himself with a dagger and sword. Everybody else followed suit by grabbing their weapons of choice from the extensive collection they'd brought.

"Ok. Will, you have everything you need?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," she said with a perky smile.

Buffy turned back to scan the crowd, looking for members of the Fang Gang but she couldn't pick anyone out of the mass, especially through the pouring rain. Were they there? Were Angel and Spike still alive? God, she hoped so. Hoped with everything she had left in her. She wanted nothing more that to charge into the fray and cut as many demons down until she found them.

Buffy turned to face her group of friends. "Right guys. It's almost time. Everybody know what they're supposed to do?" At the chorus of affirmatives, she continued. "I know this demon hoard looks pretty, well, massive, but they're no UberVamps and we have more Slayers this time, so we can do this. Faith and I will go down first, try to look for Angel and Spike and whoever else might be helping them. The fighting seems to be erupting just over there, so we'll make for that spot. Andrew and Robin, I want you over there, on top of that building. It'll be close enough to see us in case we need your help. And you two are also on dragon detail. Xander and Giles, you two and Kennedy will be sending in the Slayers at exactly midnight. Take out the demons starting at the perimeters and make your way to where we'll be. Watch your backs. This crowd looks nasty and I don't want either of you hurt. So guys, be careful down there, k?"

"Of course, Buffy. Take care of yourself as well," said Giles with an inclination of his head.

"Yah Buff, we'll be fine, don't worry so much. It's only the end of the world!" he said jokingly before giving her a departing hug. The two men moved off down the fire escape to reach their Slayers.

Buffy sighed. Yah, only the end of the world. They'd better all get through this.

"Buffy, look!" Dawn was pointing at some movement in the crowd. The remaining Scoobies all turned to see what she was indicating too. She squinted through the drenching rain. At first all she saw was scuffling, nothing distinguishable. And then a very blond, very bright head flashed within the shadowed alleyway not far away and her heart nearly stopped.

It was him! He was still alive. Oh, Thank God.

"Faith, when we get in there, I want you to find Angel. Get his back, k? You ready to go?"

"Yah, B, I'm five by five. Let's do this thing…"

--------------------

Another demon came at him, sword swinging wildly, before Spike kicked him in the chest with a heavily booted foot, knocking him to the pavement. He followed up with a slash to the demon's chest before moving to the next oncoming baddie. The buggers just kept on comin'.

Stupid, bloody Peaches and his grand schemes to prove himself. They usually always ended in bloodshed and carnage. Not that Spike had a problem with bloodshed and carnage…he'd always enjoyed a good tussle. Hell, he'd been the Scourge of Europe by causing chaos and devastation to anyone in his path, but being on the receiving end of the beatings had never been his idea of fun. Well, almost never.

There was no doubt the remaining four of them were going to be wiped out this very night.

Stupid, bloody Peaches!

There must be hundreds, maybe even thousands of various demons surrounding them. Their little group had been split up hours ago when the fighting first started in the alley just behind the Hyperion. The massive hotel was no longer standing now, having been burnt to the ground by that stupid dragon still flappin' its wings up there.

He didn't know for sure if everyone else was still alive. The last he'd seen, Old Blue was protecting Gunn stunningly, as he stubbornly tried to defend himself with the gaping wound in his gut. Poor bugger. If he knew Illyria though, she'd do her fair share of damage, he thought as he cleaved an arm from an oncoming attacker.

He hadn't seen Tall, Dark, and Forehead for a while either, but Spike knew that if Angel would have been dusted by one of these ponces he would have felt it. Bloodlines and all that rot. Broody Boy still hadn't managed to kill that blasted dragon though. For all his big talk, that beastie was still managin' to light everything on fire. Even the drenching rain wasn't putting an end to it.

Hello! Flammable guy here. Not exactly his idea of fun, he griped internally as he felled two more baddies.

Another couple of demons came at him swinging their weapons in his direction and Spike somehow managed to dodge them both before sweeping the legs out from under one and cutting the other one off at the knees. Or at least he thought they were its knees. Hard to tell with some demon-types. Oh well, he thought as he quickly cut its head off, adding to the bodies piling up around him.

The uglier one on the ground got up surprisingly quickly and sent several punches his way. He somehow got a few hits in before the baddie managed to knock Spike off his feet when a swipe of his sword caught Spike's upper arm, followed by a strong blow to his head and a kick to the stomach.

He lay on the ground, completely disoriented, already bruised, bloodied, and sore while clutching the newest wound on his bicep before he realized the vulnerability of his position.

"Bloody Hell!" he said as he raised his eyes and saw the demon standing over him with a sword raised by two beefy fists, ready to bring it down and end his unlife. His own sword was out of reach and he'd never make it before the beastie decided to run him through or chop his head off.

Well, he'd always known he'd go down fighting…again.

He closed his eyes tight as he heard the demon snicker, taking satisfaction that Spike was going to die. The demon obviously relished the fact that he had the upper hand in the situation. Bloody git, just do it already! If this was his time to go, then so be it.

He heard the quiet whisper of steel through flesh, then looked up wondering why he wasn't dust yet. Mr. Ugly still stood before him, sword raised, but then Spike noticed the expression on the demon's face slowly change from malicious intent to utter shock…just before his head rolled to the ground and bounced a couple times. The body slumped a split second later, his sword clanging noisily to the pavement.

And there she stood, the one person he'd never thought he'd see again.


	5. Executing The Plan

Chapter 5: Executing The Plan 

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I only borrow the characters and situations of the Whedonverse for my selfish pleasure (and hopefully yours).

Summary: The merging and continuation of BtVS and AtS. Starts just after 'The Girl in Question,' 5.20, and continues from there.

Recap: A few thousand demons, a fire-breathing dragon, and some pissed off otherworldly Senior Partners is just another day's work. Or not? Dawn has a potty-mouth (well, almost), and Andrew's still a nerd. The battle plan is set in motion with General Buffy in command. Spike was a split second away to fitting into an ashtray but was saved by an unexpected visitor.

--------------------

Andrew had a plan…well, kind of.

He'd learned a lot during his short career as a Sunnydale Crime lord and Evil Mastermind. He'd paid a lot of attention to Warren, their fearless leader, even though Andrew had been more than a little afraid of the desperate, unhinged look that had occasionally lit his eyes. Even so, Warren had been a good mentor of sorts, and Andrew had learned well.

Plus, nobody could do the Evil Genius laugh better than Warren had.

Aahh, the good old days! Andrew thought with a wistful smile.

Principle Wood watched the scene below, a fierce look in his eyes as, with crossbows in each arm, he fired away upon the large gathering of rowdy monsters, wounding and maiming as many as he could.

They weren't making too much headway in taking them out, but it was almost midnight, and the Slayers would soon be executing The Plan.

Andrew was more worried about how to destroy that cool looking dragon.

"Um, shouldn't we be concentrating our efforts on _him_?" he said as he pointed to the winged menace that was currently burning as many buildings down as it possibly could with each fly-by. "I don't really wanna wait for him to decide that this building looks extra flammable," Andrew muttered worriedly, watching as it dive-bombed another small office building down the way.

He and Principle Wood both looked to the sky from the roof of their designated post, the impossibility of their assigned task confronting them as the dragon began winging its way nearer to where they stood.

"Well, that's not good," said Robin, in the understatement of a lifetime, as he noticed that the demon with fire spewing from its nostrils had them in its sights.

Even though he was so nervous that Andrew thought he may very well pass out or develop another itchy rash, he tried to reassure the much larger other man.

"Don't worry, I have an idea," he said confidently, much more confidently than he actually felt, as he wondered if it wouldn't be so bad if he did pass out right now.

"Well, you better hurry up with it, little man, otherwise we'll be nothing but kindling in a few."

Andrew shrugged the strap of his duffle bag off his shoulders and unzipped it, revealing a strange looking, and rather shiny contraption.

His secret weapon!

"Keep him busy for a minute, k? I gotta fire this thingy up."

"Oh yah, keep the four ton, flying pyromaniac busy…with what exactly?"

"I dunno, shoot some arrows at it or something."

"Right! 'Cause that'll do some damage," Robin said sarcastically, but took aim with his pair of crossbows anyway. Robin had good aim, but the arrows were too fragile to penetrate the dragon's thick scales. However, it did veer off course at the distraction.

The dragon shrieked as it passed over their heads, clearly pissed off that lowly humans were attempting to fire measly arrows at it. It doubled back, getting ready to make another pass, smoke billowing from it fanged snout.

"Andrew, would you hurry up with that!"

"Ok, ok," he said as he tinkered with some switches and pulled the weapon from the duffle bag, the handle clutched in his small, sweaty and shaking fist.

"What the hell is that?" asked Robin. Andrew just smirked.

Back when he'd been a "guestage" at Casa de Summers during the battle against the First, Andrew had spent a lot of time alone, mostly because they all thought he was a tool. It had left him plenty of free time to reminisce about the good ol' days as a member of The Evil Trio, and he'd decided that some of his plans might actually be useful to the Scoobies, now that he was reformed. So, he'd tried to remember many of their concocted inventions. Having commandeered the Big Board, since no one other than him really used it, he'd spent a lot of hours alone, having nothing better to do anyway, trying to redraw schematics of the very mechanism he now held in his hand in hopes of proving his usefulness to the Scooby gang. He'd never finished it then, but after becoming a Junior Watcher, he'd decided to finish his beloved project.

"It's my new and improved Freeze Ray!" he answered excitedly, still not sure if his plan would actually work. It was worth a try at least. Plus, he couldn't wait to test this baby out!

"Well, now is as good a time as any, 'cause here it comes. You're up Geek Squad."

Andrew looked up just in time to see the dragon coming right for them, deadly intent in its red eyes as it inhaled mouthfuls of air, obviously determined to burn them and the building to a cinder.

His whole body shaking, he brought his Freeze Ray up and pointed in the direction of the dragon. Or what he hoped was its direction. He didn't really know for sure, because his eyes were clenched tight in fear. He turned his head to the side, face still screwed up tightly, as be pulled the trigger and the machine whirred to life, strongly spewing a stream of ice into the air. He shrieked like a girl at the force of the machine's power and hoping to God he wasn't going to die this instant.

After several seconds, he heard Robin's victorious shout from behind him, and only then could Andrew manage to force open an eye to survey what he'd done. The dragon still hung in the air, just barely, covered in ice as it tried to beat its wings to stay in flight. The power and speed that the ice solidified over the beast's body was no match for it though, as it rose up with a last thrust of its wings and then tilted nose-first towards the ground and plummeted like an evil demon snowball to earth.

Robin and Andrew watched wide-eyed as the frozen dragon plowed into the pavement of the street that was overrun by monsters, taking out possibly hundreds of them with the force of its fall. The ground shook as the iced dragon shattered into frozen pieces all over the place, punctuated by the scattered bodies of the demons it had crushed.

Oh my God, that was so cool! thought Andrew in awe.

"Wow," said Robin, impressed. "You really came through there."

Andrew whirled around, suddenly so excited he thought he might pee his pants. He grabbed Robin's bicep in his zeal, jumping up and down like a little kid in a sugar rush.

"Did you _see_ that? It was awesome. I _so_ rule! Can you believe that actually _worked_?" the giddy grin remained in place even though Principle Wood rolled his eyes at Andrew's very unmanly display of self-importance.

Robin shrugged his arm out of Andrew's white-knuckled grasp because the boy was just too wired. Andrew smugly looked at the wonderful damage he'd created and chuckled as a thought came to him.

"Well, at least we won't have to clean up the mess when the dragon pieces start to thaw…"

--------------------

She stood over him in the rain, wet clothes clinging to her skin, loose blonde hair hanging in dripping tendrils. She looked small but fierce, her strong stance and intense expression completely at odds with her miniscule size. She was a warrior though, no doubt about it. His gorgeous, brave Slayer.

She'd never looked more beautiful to him.

Spike stared his fill, and she returned his intent scrutiny. If his heart could beat, it probably would have stopped the instant he'd seen her, standing there with that wicked looking scythe clutched in her small fist.

Was she really there? Was she even real, or a figment of his imagination? Had he died and gone to Heaven? Spike didn't know what was going on, but she had to be real. He really couldn't bear it if she weren't. But no, he could smell her, the sweet and subtle scent of her that he'd always been addicted to. It brought back so many emotions and memories that for a minute he felt like he'd just woken up to find that the past year he'd spent in L.A. had been nothing but a dream. That he had been by her side the whole time. He was completely baffled.

What was she doing here?

"Buffy?" he whispered, still not sure why she'd saved his sorry ass.

Spike watched in fascination as she finally moved, all grace and strength, bending down and offering her free hand to help him up from where he still lay on the slick pavement. He gawked at it like a ponce, admiring how small and warm it looked, scared that if he grabbed it, she would disappear from him again…Like she had every night in his dreams, when he'd tried to touch her.

But, no. The steady rhythm of her heartbeat told him that she was not a figment of his imagination, no dream Buffy this time. She was flesh and blood, his Slayer, and he grasped her hand tightly with his own, reveling in the feel of her. He'd never thought he'd get the chance to just touch her again.

Spike found himself on his feet, face-to-face with her, and he was taken aback by the look in her hazel eyes. He'd never seen that look in her eyes before, had never expected to see it directed at him especially, and he wasn't quite sure if he was reading her right. He looked harder, but there it was, plain as can be: pure and utter joy.

Spike gasped at its implications, but all thoughts were driven from his bleached head as Buffy grabbed the lapel of his duster with her free hand and forcefully pulled him to her, claiming his surprised lips with her own hungry ones.

Spike groaned at the contact, dizzy from the warm pressure of her soft lips against his. She opened her mouth, inviting him in, and he took complete advantage of her offer. He had to taste her, there was absolutely no stopping it. Her tongue tangled with his for several breathtaking moments that warmed him to the very core. She was delicious.

Oh, God! She felt like home to him, and that was a strange feeling considering he'd never had place that he'd ever considered home. It was an unfamiliar feeling, but one which he was desperate to hold on to. Just like he was desperate to hold onto her. His arms wrapped around her small, soaked body as he kissed her back, giving her all of himself, his strength, his soul, and his love. Everything she deserved.

"Oh, god…Buffy," he muttered shakily as she pulled away, hand still clutching the front of his coat. "Wha—?"

His question was interrupted when, in the next instant, she had shoved him away as she slashed through the ugly beastie that had been about attack Spike from behind. He blinked in astonishment as their surroundings and situation rushed back to him with a vengeance.

Angel's suicidal plan. Massive demon hoard. Fighting for his life…Right, time to get to it.

Buffy bent down, retrieved his forgotten sword where it lay on the pavement, and threw it to him. He nearly dropped it when he heard a massive commotion in the street beyond, and saw demons being bowled over like ants by a huge, steaming mass that hit the ground with a deafening crash and shook everything within at least a mile radius. Shattered pieces of the huge ice chunk fell from the sky like shrapnel, littering the streets.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Spike asked, thunderstruck and eyebrows raised in alarm.

"Wow…it looks like Andrew and Robin managed to take down the dragon after all," Buffy muttered, obviously impressed. Spike just gaped at her. There was no way that _Andrew _could manage to do that…was there? Before he could contemplate it further, he was alerted to Buffy's eyes falling on a movement from behind his shoulder.

"Fight now, talk later," she instructed as she moved past him to fight the next oncoming monster with a ferocious glare, and Spike just watched in awe as she quickly executed a perfect roundhouse kick to the demon, momentarily knocking him back.

"And Spike," she said, looking at him from over her shoulder as she blocked his next attack with her arms raised, holding both ends of the scythe, "we _will_ get in that question and answer session when we survive this." She threw a sassy wink his way before kicking the demon in the head and then decapitating it with a full swing of her powerful arm. She fell back into her fighting stance, awaiting their next attackers as she faced the entrance of the alleyway.

Spike, finally deciding that he couldn't keep standing in the alley while staring like a bloody git, moved to her side, raising his sword and bracing himself for the ensuing battle.

They watched as a dozen more growling demons filled the mouth of the alley, no doubt intending to rip them to pieces. Buffy and Spike remained perfectly still, waiting for them to attack first. When the demons started charging, the blond warriors both looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes and Buffy grinned wickedly before they jumped into action.


	6. Safety In Numbers

Chapter 6: Safety In Numbers 

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I only borrow the characters and situations of the Whedonverse for my selfish pleasure (and hopefully yours).

Summary: The merging and continuation of BtVS and AtS. Starts just after 'The Girl in Question,' 5.20, and continues from there.

Recap: Plans have begun to come together. Andrew was able to pull through in a clutch and use his redesigned Freeze Ray to defeat that blasted dragon. Principle Wood was impressed, but still thinks he's a geek. Buffy and Spike had a short but sweet little reunion before they were rudely interrupted by bloodthirsty demons. The fight isn't over yet, and there is still more work to be done.

--------------------

Not too far away, Angel was wondering how the hell he'd gotten into this situation.

Oh yah…accepting the position at Wolfram and Hart in the first place, no doubt. Sure, he'd had his reasons and his team had been seduced by all the hoity-toity perks they'd offered, but was it really worth all _this_?

Angel didn't think he'd be able to get through the rest of this night. After his fight with Hamilton, he'd been exhausted, even despite the infusion of blood he'd drank from the bastard. But this rabble of demons would no doubt be the death of him and he almost welcomed it.

He'd gotten in over his head by joining Wolfram and Hart and now it was time to make things right in the only way he could. He would fight for as long as he could stand and when they finally dragged him to hell, he'd go kicking and screaming into its fiery oblivion, making it as difficult as possible for them to take him down.

Which would probably be quite soon, though.

Currently Angel found himself at the bottom of a heap of snarling monsters out for his blood. A demon doggy-pile, he thought, as he tried to drag himself out from under them. It was to no avail though, as he was crushed to the pavement under their combined weight.

Well, he'd never thought it'd end like this. He'd taken out as many as he could, but there was no way he could pull himself from this mess. And, oh, how he'd tried, thinking of the wounds he was currently sustaining. Good thing that he didn't need to breathe, otherwise he'd probably already be dead. Or deader, that is.

However, the load of demons weighing him down suddenly began to lessen as he heard fighting coming from above, and he thought that maybe Illyria or Spike had seen his predicament and had come to his assistance. But when the pile of demons was no more, Angel saw that it wasn't the God King or his wayward grand-childe that came to his rescue, but someone he'd never expected.

"Faith…w-what are you doing here?" he asked, flabbergasted, as she pulled him to his feet and wiped some green goo from his shoulder. He noticed the dead bodies surrounding them, and thanked the Powers that someone was still watching out for him.

"Saving your ass again, it looks like. You gotta stop making a habit of this, Angel," came the sassy rejoinder from the dark Slayer as she pulled him into the cover of shadows behind a small building, hoping for a momentary respite from the demons.

"What's going on? How'd you get here? And how'd you find out about this?" Angel shot the questions at her like rapid gunfire, not sure what to make of her assistance in his little foible of pissing off the Senior Partners he'd managed.

"Whoa, slow down there, Slugger. One question at a time. It's the end of the world and I somehow missed your invitation in the mail. Did you really expect us to just let these bastards take you and yours out? Think again, Angel. You never gave up on me so there's no way I'm giving up on you just yet," Faith said with quirk of an eyebrow.

"Wait…_us_?"

"You got that right, Big Guy. The whole gang's here to help. Didn't you know?" she smirked mischievously, knowing that of course he had no idea. But that was just Faith; she loved messing with people. "The Watcher boys, the Wicca, Xand-man, B, the Brat, Robin, and about one hundred plus Slayers. Quite an impressive operation we all managed to pull together last minute, huh?"

Angel just stared at her in consternation.

And then he noticed that fighting was erupting not too far away from where they stood. Young girls with heavy swords and fierce determination were felling demons in huge numbers, at least from what he could see. Doing a pretty good job of it too. So these were the next generation of Slayers.

He noticed Faith looking on the scene with a proud smile as she crossed her arms, remarking, "Looks like it's midnight."

Just then, a ball of fire erupted not too far away, sending demon bodies into the air before they (or what was left of them) hit the streets with thuds resounding in his ears. Another couple followed, blowing demon bits everywhere.

Startled, Angel looked to Faith, pointed at the fiery chaos erupting, and asked, "Is that the dragon?"

She laughed at his worry, actually laughed, dammit! "Nope, Little Andy and my man already took out that sucker." She noticed Angel's scowling pout, and continued anyway, deliberately trying to give him a had time. "Quite a spectacle too. Bummer that you missed the show. If you wanna souvenir, just look around. Its parts are all over the place." She really couldn't help but rub it in, huh? he thought. The dragon was supposed to be _his_.

She pointed to another ball of fire exploding into the demon crowd, many screams following, as she explained further, "That particular firepower is coming from none other than our resident redheaded witch. Man…Willow sure is one scary chic with the mojo she can pull off. Remind me not to piss her off, k?"

"Gotcha," he answered, his mind still reeling with the information she'd imparted. How the hell had the band of Scoobies managed to get here for this, Angel had no idea. But he wasn't ungrateful for their help, that was for sure. Even if this was _his_ apocalypse, he thought sulkily.

"Anyone else in Team Angel with you that we might need to rescue?" the second Slayer asked, giddy at the prospect to rejoin the battle and raring to go.

"Before the Monster Squad came upon us, there was only four of us. Other than me, Illyria, Gunn, and Spike were the only one's left to take these guys on…Wes is dead," Angel said quietly.

Faith was quiet as she took in that bit of news, letting sounds of the splatter of rain, the explosions of Willow's fireballs, and the cries of angry demons impinge on his consciousness again. Wes and Faith had certainly had a complicated past, what with him being her ex-Watcher and her impromptu torture session a little while back, but Angel knew that she'd come to trust Wes. Especially since he'd been the one to help her escape prison. He knew it was hard for her to accept, though.

But accept it she did when she shook herself of her internal regret at his passing and concentrated on present situations.

"I'm sorry, Angel…" she cleared her throat over the lump of emotion in her voice before changing the subject. "Well, why don't we go find Gunn and this Illyria and see if they need help? Buffy was on her way to help out Spike, so they should be ok for now."

Angel scowled at that, wondering why Buffy had sent Faith to rescue him instead of coming herself. Why should Spike get her concern, anyway? Then, recognizing that now wasn't the time to contemplate its implications, he nodded and followed her as she crept around the edge of the building, steering clear of the clamoring crowd in the streets.

Angel was grateful for the respite of sticking to the shadows, since his wounds were bleeding profusely as he was severely injured from the fight. He was already starting to heal, but he still hurt like hell. He managed to ready his sword for whatever decided to attack them next, though, as the two of them remained under the cover of darkness in their mission to find Illyria and Gunn. Once he had his other two warriors behind him, Angel knew he'd feel safer.

"So…how's life been treating you, Faith?" Angel asked, wondering if small talk would keep his mind off of his bleeding limbs and their current predicament.

"Far better than yours, from the look of it," she snorted as she noticed how he winced in pain, clutching at the slash he'd taken to the stomach. "Can't really complain, though. Gotta sweet little set-up in Cleveland with my Principal Man training a huge number of eager young Slayers. They're good girls, too," she answered simply as she scanned around building corners, looking for the best detour around the bloodthirsty demon gathering.

"Why Cleveland?"

"Another Hellmouth…Geez, I thought you were hip to the Big Bad circles, Angel. You must be slipping, what with working for Evil Incorporated," she smirked.

Angel ignored her pointed comment as they continued moving stealthily through the back alleys, and instead asked, "And everyone else? What are they doing now that Sunnydale is no more?"

"Well, Willow, Xander, Andrew, and Robin are all official Watchers, making up the whole of the Council now—"

"So Willow's a Watcher and a witch? I'm confused."

"Yah, well sorta. She's more than a witch after that spell that brought on the Slayer Nation…Like some Wiccan Goddess thingy. I never really got it actually, but she's wicked powerful, if you haven't noticed," she said, gesturing to the devastation in the streets, demon bodies smoldering in piles everywhere. "A member of the all-important Coven now too. But anyway, we're all scattered around the world because of the ungodly amount of Slayers we have to train. They're also recruiting new Watchers too. It's a big job. Dawn's finishing up at a high school that is thankfully not on a Hellmouth this time. She'll probably become a Watcher eventually. We don't see B much, mainly because she's taking a break, trying to be a normal girl for once."

Angel couldn't help the jealous note that crept into his voice as he muttered, "And dating the Immortal."

Faith smirked again, "Yah, I don't know what it is about Buffy and demon boyfriends, but hey, I haven't exactly made the best choices when it comes to men either. Must be a Slayer thing," she mused. "At least I got a good one now, though."

"You do seem happy, Faith," Angel remarked quietly.

"A first for me. Still takes some getting used to, but yah, I guess I am. I'm finally a part of something. I'm a Scooby now…" she said, a hint of awe in her voice as she contemplated that prospect. She turned to look at him again, her features sincere and open, "I have you to thank for that Angel…If turning me away from the dark side wasn't a good enough deed for you to get your Shanshu on, then I don't know what is…How's that whole prophecy fulfillment goin' for you, by the way?"

Angel didn't want to even think about the blood in which he'd signed away all hopes of a human existence he'd been working toward for the past five years, so he grimly changed the subject instead.

"Look, over there! I think I see Illyria. Let's go..."

TBC

A/N: Updates will be coming much more regularly after mid-December, so hang in there. Thanks for reading and please review. I love hearing your input.


	7. Realizations

A/N: Thank you for all the wonderful reviews. Sorry to those of you that reviewed chapter 5. For some reason (probably because it was around the time of all the website problems) some of those reviews got lost or something. But don't worry, I did get to read your comments in the alert emails, so thanks a bunch! Keep reviewing and I'll keep writing.

Chapter 7: Realizations

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I only borrow the characters and situations of the Whedonverse for my selfish pleasure (and hopefully yours).

Summary: The merging and continuation of BtVS and AtS. Starts just after 'The Girl in Question,' 5.20, and continues from there.

Recap: The fight continues, as Faith rescues Angel from the demon doggy-pile he got stuck in. Faith explained some background that Angel hasn't been keeping up on, and Angel is on a search for Illyria and Gunn. It's midnight now, so Slayers are kicking some major demon butt and Willow's got her firepower going, thus adding to the demon carnage.

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Dawn looked down into the fray a little worriedly.

"Willow, be careful you don't hit any Slayers," she warned as they perched on their designated rooftop.

"I know Dawnie, but there's so many demons that I'm just trying to thin the herd a little. Make it a little easier on the girls." She smiled cajolingly down at the younger Summers from the height where the witch was currently getting her glowy on, before turning to concentrate once more on the task at hand.

Dawn watched in fascination as Willow, with the white hair, the radiant aura and the levitating, managed to conjure another fireball within her cupped hands before unleashing it into the center of the crowded mass with an explosive force. More beastie bodies flew into the streets, some still on fire from Willow's magic weaponry. More demons crowded into the empty spaces their fallen brethren had left behind only to be bowled down by the next incoming flaming missile.

Wow! With power like that on their side, they were bound to win this fight, that's for sure.

Dawn wondered how long it would take, because at the moment, she was really worried that some of those ugly monsters were gonna decide to take out Willow. Sure, Dawn had been learning to fight, well, in controlled situations that included her and Andrew as sparing partners. And, no offense to him, she had beat the crap out of him more than once, but she seriously doubted her abilities to defend them both if the demons were determined to put an end to Willow's magical ammunition. She could barely even pick up the heavy broadsword that Buffy had entrusted her with, let alone manage to swing it at something that wanted to kill her.

It was a huge responsibility for a teenager that had very little field experience with the actual slaying of bad guys.

But Buffy trusted her to take care of herself, and if Buffy thought she could do it, then she would, Dawn determined.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spied Robin and Andrew coming down from the building not too far away to join in the fighting. She squinted her eyes and saw that Andrew still had his Freeze Ray blasting away as Robin defended him from the demons trying to take him out for the harm his little invention was causing them.

When Dawn had seen the dragon ice cube drop from the weeping sky, she'd been so proud of their little former supervillian that she'd been willing to listen to any sci-fi show or comic book reference for at least a week. Maybe even let him burn down their kitchen just for the sake of gratitude.

Robin was following Andrew now as the nerd led the way, freezing anything non-human that crossed his path, while Robin brought up the rear, knocking the frozen bodies into pieces before moving on. Another of Willow's fireballs exploded dangerously close to them, and Dawn looked up at Willow again, a worried frown wrinkling her brow.

"Oops," murmured the witch sheepishly.

"Oops? There will be no more oops's, ok?" said Dawn emphatically.

"Gotcha Dawnie. It's just that these things are a little hot and, well, the last one kinda got away from me there for a second. I'll be more careful," said Willow at the young girl's chastising look.

Dawn's only response was a typical teenage grumble before her attention was suddenly distracted. She spied some young slayers led by Xander fighting below, his arms constantly in motion as he hacked away with his two weapons furiously. Her stomach did a little flip-flop at the sight, her prepubescent crush coming back with a vengeance.

When did he get to be so cool? she thought dazedly. She always remembered him being a bit of a klutz, a clown with a heart of gold. The boy-next-door type. Out of all the Scoobies, last year he had shown her that he was the one that really understood her. Not that her sister didn't, but Buffy would never know what it was like to be an ordinary girl surrounded by extraordinary people. Xander knew. Well, not so much about the girl part, but rather the rest of it.

Dawn's inner rambling came to an abrupt halt as she noticed that a very big and ugly demon was sneaking up behind Xander, the dagger in his hand raised menacingly, and Xander was completely unaware as his efforts were taken up with fighting another beastie.

Dawn panicked, not really sure what to do, but hoped that he wasn't far away enough to hear her voice over the ensuing chaos. She'd had plenty of practice screaming at the top of her lungs during her bratty temper tantrums, so she just hoped she'd pierce the noise of the battle.

"Xander, behind you!" She sure got attention at her vocals, because many demons turned to look at where the sound had come from. Well, that can't be a good thing! she thought, as some of them began running toward the building she and Willow occupied.

She noticed that Xander also looked toward her, obviously having heard her shriek, before turning to block the oncoming blow. He dropped his sword in the scuffle, and Dawn felt the trepidation shoot up her spine as he fell back, the demon advancing on him. But he somehow managed to pull a dagger from out of nowhere, and shoved it into the demons stomach as he charged the man on the ground. After a few moments, Xander got up, dusted himself off, retrieved his sword and looked back over to where she stood. He gave her a thumbs-up before rejoining the battle raging around him.

Dawn let out relieved sigh.

Then, hearing the sounds of heavy steps ascending the metal fire escape, Dawn knelt down and grabbed one of Willow's spell books. Forget the broadsword, she was more comfortable with magic anyway, she thought as she tried to find a spell that might be able to help them out of the trouble she'd unwittingly called on them.

Without warning, the pages somehow gained a mind of their own as they fluttered uncontrollably, like a wind had sent them into a fury. Only, there was no wind blowing…lots of dreary rain, but wind was thankfully absent, Dawn noticed, before the pages stopped their frenzied rustling and landed on an incantation in the middle of the heavy volume. Hmmm, that was weird.

Dawn looked up to see Willow smiling down at her. So, all the flurrying pages had been her doing, huh?

"Hurry Dawnie, they'll be up here soon," she said, her trust in Dawn's abilities apparent. Then Willow moved her intense concentration back to her conjured fireballs, leaving Dawn to perform the spell she'd chosen. Dawn gulped before turning back to the book and reading the spell that Willow had given her.

Simple barrier spell, she could do this. No problem, right?

"Servo nos, unified elementum.

Tribuo mihi vestri vox.

Tribuo mihi a parietis of vestri vires.

Servo nos, unified elementum."

Dawn's hands and voice shook uncontrollably as she stood up, again recited the words as fast as she could. The warriors were just climbing onto the roof as Dawn put one of her hands out in a halting gesture and repeated the spell for the third time, her voice gaining in volume and strength.

The flash of light knocked her back onto the ground in a tangle of arms, legs, and long, brown hair. Dawn groaned as barely managed to raise her head, since her body had been drained as she'd felt the power sucked out of her body in order to perform the spell. But there it stood…a pulsating wall of subdued light that extended from one side of the roof to the other and stood about twenty feet high, effectively blocking off any way for the demons to get to either her or Willow. Damn, she'd actually managed to pull it off!

"Good job, Dawnie. I knew you could do it," said Willow from where she still hung in the air, another glowing orb of flames resting in her cupped hands just waiting to be released.

Dawn looked up at her friend from where she lay on the ground, still dazed and sore but feeling very proud of herself, and gave her a big smile of thanks.

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For the first time in a while, Buffy felt alive.

Despite the lack of sleep in the past three days, despite the emotional roller coaster they'd all managed to make it through so far, and even despite the daunting task of preparing for this current apocalypse, Buffy felt amazing.

As her and Spike continued their mowing down of demons, her blood spread like wildfire through her veins, her heart pounded in her chest, and she could never remember feeling the rush of the adrenaline being as strong as it was now.

Not even during the last battle with the Turok-Hans.

And it wasn't because she was scared, because suddenly her fear had left the building, nor was it to do with any doubts about winning this battle, she realized, as her blade whispered through thick flesh, splattering more green blood onto the pavement, where it collected in puddles around them.

There was no chance that they would lose now. She knew it in her heart, just the same way that she knew the sky was blue or the sun would rise again in a few hours. It was the same way she knew that she loved Spike.

Some things just _were_.

Maybe this feeling of being so alive had to do with the fact that she had finally found him after spending every night in her unfulfilled dreams seeking his solace. He was by her side again, her Champion, after she'd been mourning him since the day Sunnydale went under. Her life had felt so…empty somehow. Not that she hadn't been surrounded by those that she loved and who loved her in return, but he had been such a missing piece of her.

Like her right hand.

She watched out of the corner of her eye as he whirled and dodged and struck deadly blows while fighting four of these ugly green guys. She smiled slightly while clashing weapons with two of her own beasties, knowing how much he loved the fight. How much he almost reveled in the unleashing of his demon at times. Maybe not so much after the soul-getting, but he seemed to be enjoying himself now. Like he had when he'd fought by her side.

Maybe there was something else, though, that could contribute even more to this feeling of freedom that she suddenly felt?

While Spike's presence certainly was a factor, she had the inclination that there was more.

At first, she had been terrified about getting involved in this battle, mainly because it had been months since she'd trained…no fighting, no workouts, nothing since she'd been trying to lead the life of a normal girl. And after several months of trying to go through the motions of what she would assume normal girls did, she had felt that maybe she wasn't ready for this battle, both physically and mentally. Not that that would have held her back anyway, since her friends' lives were on the line here.

But, she had missed this!

Missed the strength coursing through her and the instinct guiding her motions. She missed the power that ruled her body when she unleashed everything that she was into the fight. Now, she didn't feel the need to spend everyday containing her power just to fit into that normal existence…no more limiting herself.

There was no point trying to deny who she was anymore. She wasn't a normal girl. She never would be, no matter how many slayers were out there. Spike had realized that years ago, long before she had realized that she'd never be happy in the humdrum existence, pretending to be less than she really was.

Normal was just a figment of the imagination, anyway. She was meant for this, this fighting and chaos…was built for this.

It was finally time to stop fighting herself—fighting her nature, her power, and her love—and instead spend her efforts fighting against evil, like she'd always done before they'd sunk the town of Sunnydale into the Hellmouth.

This was her life. This was her calling. This was _her_.

And how did she know this?…well, some things just _were_.

TBC--Review please! Feedback is alway helpful and most appreciated :)


	8. Strange Reunions

A/N: I love you guys! Your reviews are awesome. Thanks so much for the feedback and please keep it up. So, this chapter is a bit longer than usual, mainly because I wanted to make up for not updating as often as I'd like, what with the holidays and all, and also because I want to finish the battle part of the story. Like now! It's sooo hard to write anything interesting. So, for those of you who have hung in there through it, I promise to have the battle finished up by the end of the next chapter...YAY! And then I can get on with the rest of the story, as I'm sure you'll all be glad to know. Anywho, hope everyone had a great holiday and this is my belated gift to you...a great gift in return would be lotsa reviews, btw :)

Chapter 8: Strange Reunions

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I only borrow the characters and situations of the Whedonverse for my selfish pleasure (and hopefully yours).

Summary: The merging and continuation of BtVS and AtS. Starts just after 'The Girl in Question,' 5.20, and continues from there.

Recap: Dawn sure is following in Willow's footsteps, what with the crazy magic she managed to pull off. They grow up so fast, don't they! Buffy has been missing the training and fighting, but it's kinda like riding a bike, right? She's also starting to come to some realizations about her power and who she is. Acceptance is long overdue, I think. Now, on with the battle…

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"So…are you sure you don't need any help with that?" shouted Gunn sardonically, as he sat slumped against the cold brick of the building behind him, his face steadily paling as he clutched his still-bleeding wound and watched in wonder as the bodies piled up around them.

Illyria continued to ignore him, knowing that the injured man could do no damage to the demon population whatsoever. She moved in a flurry of arms, legs and blue hair as she killed one after another, all without a change from the bland and bored expression that adorned her familiar features.

They hadn't moved far from the rubble of the Hyperion where the fighting had originated, mainly because Gunn could barely stand, let alone walk away from their imminent massacre. He'd managed to hang onto consciousness as the fighting started, but he still had no idea where Angel and Spike had gone. Probably got split up in the fighting, but he'd been too preoccupied with trying not to croak in a dingy alley to pay much attention. Thankfully, Illyria had been keeping up her part of the bargain by killing anything that crossed her path, the hundreds of dead demons that surrounded her a testament to her silent rage.

The sound of bones cracking and the stench of soaked, dead flesh was beginning to get to him, and he hoped he managed to keep his gaping stomach from upchucking—he knew he wouldn't be able to handle the pain from that particular experience and it was no way for a Team Angel member to go out. Death-by-Puking had never really figured into how he'd thought he'd die.

Footsteps approached, but he had no energy to raise his head and see who was closing in on him in his prone state. He just prayed to the Powers that none of those ugly baddies had somehow gotten behind their resident God-King, because he was a goner if that were the case.

"Hey Gunn, how's it hangin?" said a cool voice from above, momentarily distracting him from the ripeness of their surroundings that was the cause of his disgustingly gross reverie of before.

He raised his head, just barely, to get a peek at the woman standing over him.

"Faith…you never call, never write…what's a fella supposed to think? But, I've gotta say—you sure have damn good timing," he said with a weakly relieved smile.

"Yah, G-man, it's what I do now—jump in and save the day where I'm needed. If I hadn't managed to find Angel so fast, he'd probably be in worse shape that you are by now."

"Where is the boss, anyway?"

"He's over there backing up the chick that looks a lot like Fred-Gone-Goth. What's up with that hair anyway? Cause her attempt at a makeover is really scary…unless that's what she was goin for…" she muttered derisively.

"Yah, well, that's a long story. If we make it out of this thing alive, maybe I'll tell ya about it."

"Don't worry Gunn, you'll be fine. Just keep hangin on while the rest of us take care of the Evil Army. We've got reinforcements helping out, so we'll be outta this soon."

Gunn's eyes followed the Slayer as she turned and made her way further down the alley to a bunch of…_little girls_?

What the hell? Where had they come from? Maybe the stench in the alleyway was making him hallucinate, cause he sure never remembered seeing a bunch of little girls in the midst of the demon-palooza that had overtaken downtown L.A. Not that he'd been able to see much of it, of course, sitting here bleeding all over himself and all. It was certainly strange, though, he thought.

"Hey Gunn, how're you doing?" Angel was standing by his side all of a sudden, a concerned look covering his face. Illyria sauntered up as well, having snapped the head off the last demon within their vicinity, and regarded the fallen man with a scowl upon her face.

"I'm still alive, so I guess that counts for something, right?" he said just before succumbing to a mild coughing fit that threatened to tear him in half with the accompanying pain.

"You wreak of death, mortal."

"So do you," he muttered under his breath as his nose picked up the scent of demon blood that blanketed her willowy, leather-encased limbs. The same blood that was causing his gag reflex to act up again. She picked a string of pink entrails out of her hair with a distasteful scowl, and Gunn seriously reconsidered the Death-by-Puking scenario—better to just get it over with now, rather than dealing with more of the ick factor, he thought as his face paled even more.

Angel leaned down, ignoring Illyria's comment and her lack of hygiene, and tried to make his friend a little more comfortable. He couldn't help but agree with her though. Gunn looked like shit.

"It's ok Gunn, we're going to find the rest of the team and finish this. Faith's got some volunteers from her group to protect you while we're gone. I doubt anymore demons will venture this way, as the fighting has mostly moved into the streets now, but just in case."

"Those girls, you mean?" he asked in disbelief, indicating the three females that looked like they were out past their bedtimes, as they followed Faith back to their small assemblage. "How are they gonna protect me?"

"Slayers," supplied Faith. "Don't worry, they can handle themselves. Gunn, this is Rhona, Karrie, and Alise. These girls are some of my best, so you'll be safe from any baddies that might happen by. Come on, Angel. We need to find Spike and Buffy. Let's go." And with that, she took off down the alley swinging her sword absently.

"We'll be back soon. Take care of yourself. Come on, Illyria," said Angel. The God-King spared him a pitying glance before they went after Faith down the alley.

"That's ok, I'll just wait right here for you guys," said Gunn sarcastically as he watched them walk off, feeling useless because of the crater in his abdomen.

He thought he vaguely heard Faith say to Illyria, "So, Fred I just _love_ the hair…" Their voices fading as they moved further away from where he sat flanked by three very young teenagers with large swords who all were staring at him curiously, but not before he noticed Illyria's death glare directed at the brunette Slayer.

Gunn chuckled, finally knowing that they were gonna make it.

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Spike was in awe of the way she moved, like she was pouring everything that she was into the violence she was enacting. Her strength was something he'd always been familiar with as long as he'd known her, but somehow it did not seem even close to the power she wielded on this night. He could hear the breaking of bones echoing in the night, shattering beneath her fists and feet as she practically reveled in her destruction. He also recognized the look on her face as one of acceptance and peace, strangely enough, and he wondered what she was thinking as she ran another beastie through with the wooden end of her scythe.

It didn't go poof like vamps would, but the staking got the job done just the same. She was moving onto the next demon before the last body even hit the ground, the thud drowned out by her grunts at the effort she was expelling as she threw herself into the next fight with wild abandon.

Tha's my girl!

And Spike knew he was where he was supposed to be. After months of fighting the good fight with Angel and Company, he'd managed to convince himself that he was doing the right thing, letting her get on with her life without him. And, maybe he had been right, but it didn't change the fact that backing up his Slayer felt like what he'd been meant to do all along.

Sure, he'd learned a lot about himself this last year, like he didn't have to be anyone's sidekick to fight the good fight. He had found himself by striking out on his own, no longer anyone's lapdog. He'd had enough of that nonsense to last a hundred lifetimes and didn't fancy repeating his stupidity.

Ok, so he _had_ come back into the Wolfram and Hart fold after his short stint as a vigilante do-gooder, but at least he refused to take any of Angel's bullshit.

Not that he ever really had.

As fun as it had been throwing as much snark as possible towards his grandsire, nothing could compare to fighting alongside her, though, being her right hand in battle. He'd missed this, almost as much as he'd missed her.

Almost.

He should never have stayed in Los Angeles after getting cured of the ghosties. He should have gone with his first instinct and hopped a plane to Rome and back to Buffy.

Only…if he'd done that, he'd never have found his independence. He would've probably gone on to happily be her faithful lapdog, doing whatever she'd asked of him; anything to win her favor…forever Love's Bitch. Yep, that was him alright.

Some thing's never changed.

So maybe, things had worked out the way they should've; him staying away, giving them both time to grow and learn more about themselves, no matter how much he'd wanted to run to her side to once again bathe in the radiance that was Buffy Summers.

The truth of it was, he'd been scared; scared that she hadn't meant what she'd said in the cavern, scared that she would accept him back into her life only because of her stupid sense of obligation to him, like for destroying the Hellmouth, perhaps? A sense of obligation that she took very seriously, he knew. The last thing he would've wanted was to be a part of her life, whether as a friend or otherwise, only because she'd felt duty-bound to him.

And, he still didn't know if she wanted him back in her life at all really, only that she'd come to save him. Spike grimaced in self-doubt, not liking the questions his inner ramblings were raising. Nonetheless, for once in his unlife he wasn't going to jump to conclusions when it came to the Slayer, even despite the kiss they'd shared upon reuniting. He'd done it too many times, only to met with bitter disappointment. And Spike was sure as hell sick to death with disappointment.

No…she'd saved him, and until they did get to that Q & A session like she'd promised, that was all he was sure of.

For now, that would have to be enough.

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Buffy and Spike finished off the last of the demons that were in the alley and they both took a breather while they could, knowing that the respite wouldn't last long.

"You alright?" Buffy panted as she leaned against the closest building and rotated her sore shoulder. Stupid demon, he'd come out of nowhere and nearly dislocated her arm before Spike had pulled him off of her with an almighty roar and a stab through the stomach. At least it wasn't broken though, she thought distractedly.

"Right as rain, luv. You?" he asked as he watched her movements with a curious eye, checking her reaction to see if indeed her arm was still in one piece. It was nice, she thought with a smile, noticing his concern.

"Yah, fine…" she said with a sigh, still feeling a stiffness in her joint but ignoring it as she pushed off the wall to walk closer to where he was crouched and nonchalantly leaning against the sword in his hands as he tried to catch his unneeded breath. He made quite a sexy picture, all wet from the precipitation, mussed hair in curls and the fire in his eyes from the fight. Despite the blood and bruises that covered him, he was still the hottest thing on two legs.

She really had to think of something to distract herself from the sight of him watching her from his low vantage point before she decided to resume with the lip-locking she'd initiated before. Either that, or tell him, finally, of the feelings screaming inside her to be released. So _not_ the time and place for it, though. There'd be time enough for that conversation later. And hopefully more kissage too!

"Speaking of rain," she started inanely in an awkward attempt at small talk, while hoping he wouldn't discern the reason for her flushed cheeks other than from the fight, "Does it do this often? I never remembered it being this bad when I lived in L.A. In fact, I never remember it raining at all, really. Well, maybe once…" she finished lamely, wishing she could kick herself in her own ass for her stupid segway into Southern California weather.

God, she really was a lost cause.

Spike stood up gracefully and shrugged a leather-clad shoulder, apparently unaware of her embarrassing attempts at conversation, or else pretending to be anyway, as he answered, "Must be the apocalypse and all. For some reason bad weather always goes hand in hand with big evil. 's stupid really, when you think 'bout it. Like a big demon army isn't ominous enough. Gotta throw a massive downpour into the mix jus' to make things interesting." He half-smirked, half smiled as he looked back at her with a light-hearted glint highlighting his big, blue eyes.

Buffy smiled warmly in return, her embarrassment forgotten in his amusing attempt to lighten the tension between the two of them. She had no doubt that he was aware of her racing heart and emotional upheaval, because he _always_ knew somehow, but he was trying to make them both feel less uncomfortable in this strange reunion they'd now found themselves. And for that, she found him even more enduring, if that was possible.

"You know…I never really thought about it, but you're right. Must be the impending sense of doom that always comes when the big, gray storm clouds roll in overhead. Like in those cheesy murder mystery movies that Giles doesn't think I know he watches."

And somehow she was suddenly glad that the two of them, despite all that they had been through, could stand here and talk about stupid, incredibly unimportant things like L.A. weather and Giles's choice of programming even in the midst of a huge battle. It really had a way of putting the tension between them on ice…for the time being, at least.

Spike smirked as he absently patted the pockets of his jeans before fishing out his shiny lighter, "Watcher man still has bad taste in film, I see. Thought he'd grow outta tha'."

"Apparently not, cause I overheard him asking one of Faith's trainees if she'd been taping Passions for him and could she please send the copies to him in London asap." Buffy tried hard to keep her small smile secret at her pointed dig, but he'd caught it anyway.

"I'll have ya know, I haven't watched Passions in a long while. Too much to do around this hell hole, tha's for sure. Still a bloody great show, though…now where are those stupid smokes," the last was muttered huffily as he dug around in the pockets of his duster, searching for his cigarettes, but coming up with nothing but a soaked pack.

He sighed, throwing his head back in exasperation at his plans for a quick smoke break being foiled by said rain.

Buffy watched his actions, and she realized how much she'd missed Spike and his weird and highly comical mannerisms over the last year. Sure, she'd missed the fighting and fucking too, but it was the little things, seemingly unimportant, that really brought it home to her that he was standing only a few feet away from her after she'd thought she'd lost him forever.

The way he'd tilted his head whenever he'd watched her, thinking she didn't notice it. The way he'd had to try so damn hard to hang onto his limited patience in certain situations by clenching his jaw to keep from screaming his frustration. The way he'd always had something snarky to say, even when he should've kept his mouth shut, and most of the time he'd still made a lot of damn sense. But that was just Spike…he never did what you expected, but always the opposite.

God, she'd really missed him.

And that was something she really did want to tell him, right this very instant. A fairly safe expression of emotion, as far as she was concerned. At least in comparison to the rest of the stuff she wanted to say to him very soon. But this, well, she could do it.

"Spike…" she said, touching his arm to get his attention, looking at him sincerely and hoping she didn't stutter or anything.

He looked at her hand on his arm, and then looked into her open face, seeing that she needed to say something. She felt him hold his unneeded breath in anticipation as she stared into his soft eyes.

She could do this!

"Spike…I—"

Since they'd both been staring into each other's eyes like lovesick fools, which in reality they both were, neither one of them noticed the three people approaching, until a hand fell on Buffy's shoulder, shocking her into action. Thinking another demon had found them, Buffy whirled around, scythe raised menacingly, to make quick work of their would-be attacker.

Faith, knowing better than anyone how a Slayer would react when surprised, jumped back, Buffy's blade barely missing her torso.

"Hey, B, when ya get so jumpy?" Faith teased. "Nearly took me out, there."

"Maybe you shouldn't sneak up on people then," she shot back, a little perturbed that her window of opportunity had been missed. For now, anyway.

"Well, I thought you might like to see what I picked up on the way…" she remarked as she stood aside to reveal Angel standing behind her, looking a little uncomfortable.

"Angel!" Buffy, exclaimed excitedly, rushing forward to envelope him in a friendly hug, her relief that he wasn't dust palpable to all who stood in the alley.

--------------------

Spike glared at Buffy and Angel, wrapped in each other's arms, both happy to see one another. If they even kissed this time, tongues or no, he was definitely outta here!

Faith noticed his glare and tried to hide her knowing smirk, but failed miserably.

Spike then glared at Faith, just because she looked smug about the whole situation. Stupid bint.

Angel and Buffy broke apart smiling that they were all still alive. The eldest Slayer's attention turned to the third member of the new arrivals, Illyria, as the God-King regarded the emotional reunion with disdain etched on her face.

"Hi," greeted Buffy, accompanied by a small wave in her direction.

Illyria ignored her before turning to Angel and saying, "Is this the cookie?…she looks far to breakable and her raging, pointless emotions affect me with their filthiness. She is disgusting." She turned back to Buffy, a superior light in her eye as she took a menacing step forward, "Be gone, little one, before I crush you."

Buffy, obviously spitting fire now, took a step forward as well, ready to do battle, "Go ahead, Goth-girl, and you'll find out what it feels like to have my new Italian Leather boot jammed in you're a—."

Before she had a chance to finish her threat, Spike rushed to her and wrapped one arm around her waist and the other hand clamped to her mouth in the effort of avoiding disaster. Picking her up and removing the loudly protesting Slayer across the alley and far from Illyria's reach was Spike's only hope to avert the violence promised by the two warriors.

He looked over his shoulder to see Angel and Faith putting an end to Illyria's skulking insults before more damage could be done.

Chuckling, and perversely proud at the profanity spewing from Buffy's lips, Spike tried his best to calm down the fuming woman in front of him. "Let it go, Summers. Pay no attention to the Blue Meanie here, she has no sense of people skills whatsoever. Doesn't exactly keep her thoughts to herself. Besides, she'd wipe the floor with you, pet, and since you'd just gotten here and all, I'd like keep you around for a bit."

Buffy snorted derisively, crossing her arms in annoyance, "I'd like to see her try it!"

"Believe it or not, she's on our side, so you two will just have to wait to kill each other till after the apocalypse, luv. Deal?" he pressed, hoping she would concede to her common sense.

She hesitated, but apparently common sense won out over suicide. "Fine…deal," she said grudgingly. "But just because she's a good guy doesn't mean I have to like her," she pouted sullenly.

Spike, smiling at her cute lower lip, remarked, "Wouldn't ask ya to, luv. Come on, let's get back to the rest of the group an' get this show on the road. Wha' d'ya say?"

His sullen Slayer nodded and followed him over to the others just in time to hear Faith's suggestion that they all charge into the streets to join the rest of the Slayer army they'd brought along.

"Why the hell not? I got nothin' better to do," volunteered Spike, hefting his sword over his shoulder.

"Yes, I wish to cause more violence suddenly," stated Illyria in the monotone voice he was becoming used to. Obviously she was still spoiling for a fight.

"I couldn't agree more," said Buffy, glaring in Illyria's direction. Obviously she was still spoiling for a fight too.

At least they were willing to take it out on the demon army rather than on each other.

"Come on gang, let's get to work," said Angel as they all started to walk toward the fighting.

"Uh, Peaches…you already said that earlier. Couldn't think of any other lame one-liners, huh?"

"Shut-up Spike," sighed Angel.

"Still falling back on old favorites, I see. Maybe the imagination isn't what it used to be, huh?"

And the two vampires continued to bicker the entire way into the fray, while the three females tried their best to ignore them…

TBC


End file.
